


Pendulum

by rishfish



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Btw shiki means corpse demon in case anyone needed to know, Four years post show, Gonna be tragic, I mean what's the point there's gonna be so much death and /decay/, No pairings yet - Freeform, Prepare your feels, Shiki AU, This is some dark stuff yo, You do not have to have seen Shiki and will enjoy the story more not knowing what's up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-23 11:26:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3766396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rishfish/pseuds/rishfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Much to the dismay of the Pines twins, their return to the Falls after four years is less than jovial. The town is hardly lively and the residents are living in constant fear. The cause of there panic is supposedly an "epidemic" spreading amongst the people. It's of unknown origin but as the twins soon discover they're not just facing a deadly inexplicable disease.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

                                             

Gravity Falls, Oregon was a town of joviality. Was being the key word in that sentence. After the “Incident at Gravity” the town eventually found itself felled from the spotlight of the media. The firing squad of reporters that had constantly shot questions at the bystanding townsfolk ebbed back into the flow of reporting on larger celebrities in pop culture. Once more twerking became more important to the nation than the town with little going on. It had nearly returned to its former state, if not more cautious. The town enjoyed four years of peace with few disturbances.

As time progressed fewer and fewer strange happenings occurred. It wasn’t to last. The summer of the year 2015 brought insects, heat, and a most dreadful “epidemic” amongst other things all together. It would be an epidemic that would soon stir up panic in the bellies of the townspeople that inhabited the lonely town. An unexplainable disease that would come and go.

The first residents to succumb to death were amongst the elderly. They were solitary people and weren’t discovered until days upon days had passed. Each one was suspected to have died of heatstroke due to one particularly hot week. Several others fell victim to the malevolent disease, all older people who passed after the first few were discovered. It wasn’t until the passing of Gideon Gleeful, the town’s once child psychic fraud, that people grew uneasy. Someone as young passing so soon? His relentless efforts that landed him in court might've made it seem like it'd be harder to be rid of someone as persistent as he. And here he was, sick a few days and gone shortly after. The media sugar coated the details- everything from his criminal life as a celebrated "psychic" to the means of his death by the epidemic. However, the word “epidemic” wasn’t coined to describe the circumstances until much later as panic stirred in the bellies of the Gravity Falls citizens.

Little do the citizens know, the disease is hardly what they make it out to be. And with all the progress scientists and doctors have been making, it's doubtful the answer will even be found out before the entire residency will "cease to exist". They're looking in all the wrong places. 

 And thus a story of a rampant “epidemic” and savage blood thirst weaves itself through the town of Gravity Falls.

 


	2. First Reunion

It was May 15th, year 2015, a warm Sunday, when twins Mabel and Dipper Pines made their return to Gravity Falls, at long last. They arrived a tad later than they should have, barely making it to their own Great Uncle’s Mystery Shack by five o’clock. By the time the siblings were saying good-bye to their mother, the sun had painted the landscape a red-orange hue.

“Now behave yourselves. I won’t hesitate to bring you both home if there’s a repeat of last time,” their parent warned. Mabel nodded eagerly as if to agree but she wasn’t paying attention. The sixteen year old girl was far too excited to even make sense of her mother’s stern warning. She hadn’t been back to her twelve year-old summer adventure since the incident occurred.

“We will, Mom,” Dipper assured from the driver’s seat. He’d been learning and now had licence enough to drive with a legal adult. Behind him a childlike excitement was nearly bubbling out of his twin. In a mesmerized daze, the young brunette absentmindedly twirled one of her several necklaces around a finger and gazed out the window as the Mystery Shack came into her view.

Dipper came to a stop and he had hardly put the car into park when Mabel burst forth from the vehicle and let out a shrill squee of delight. She nearly toppled over from stepping on the starred hem of her ankle-length skirt. This didn’t even delay the girl when a familiar Grunkle Stan emerged from the home business.

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel squealed as she bounded to her kin while Dipper retrieved their belongings and shut the trunk of the car. She about tackled the unprepared uncle to the ground with her hug.

“Twins!” He returned, voice dry and gruff. His enthusiasm was definitely an effort made, but it was obvious that Stan was tired. “Haven’t changed a bit,” he added smugly. Bags hung under his eyes and his shoulders slumped a little more than usual. He extended an arm to Dipper who had set the bags on the porch to go greet his Grunkle.

“Hey Grunkle,” He said, a small grin gracing his face for the first time in a while. Dipper noticed almost immediately that Stan had aged pretty quickly since they last saw him, though Mabel didn’t seem to catch on. He had more wrinkles around his eyes and didn’t seem to have quite the grip he used to. “How’s about we catch up over some cold pizza?” Stan asked, waving off the twins’ parent.

“And then I can lay down some ground rules.” Dipper returned to the bags and picked them up, waiting at the old screen door. Stan slipped it open.

“Rules?! But Grunkle!” Mabel gasped dramatically. “You never have rules!” Of course he had originally given them some rules such as: ‘Don’t you dare touch that,’ or ‘Don’t go in there,’ but those were made to be broken anyway and were never really stated as “rules”.

“Yeah, well, you’re reckless teenagers now. I gotta keep you in check,” he said with a wink, prodding Mabel in the tummy with the end of his cane. Mabel just giggled.

Upon reaching the inside of the shack she took a deep breath in and sniffed the pine-scented air.

“It smells the exact same!” She twirled around on the old rug that hadn’t moved an inch and pranced around to get a look at the souvenirs that remained in the same spots. Stan went into the small kitchen and Dipper, now briefly free of the weight of mostly Mabel’s stuff, followed Mabel around.

“Looks like nothing’s been sold in a while, even the newer looking stuff has dust on it,” Dipper observed with a frown. Stan returned with an oil stained box lifted over his head.

“Pizza time!” Mabel hurried over to get some dinner. She waved her arms in the air, still not quite tall enough to reach the pizza Stan was holding up. He lowered it and slid it on the counter.

“So, Grunkle Stan, how’s business and stuff?” He asked.

“Huh?” Stan glanced up from the pizza box he was prying open as if it were hard.

“Oh yeah- after the paparazzi left we ended up losing a ton of business. It’s pretty ugly. We do have the stray customer here and there. And then I force them to buy stuff. Hah. Haha,” he laughed robotically.

“Ok. So, rules, now. Don’t leave the Shack after dark. Don’t let anyone in without my permission. Not even friends.” Dipper took his eyes off the old pizza he’d taken from the box and stared at Stan a second.

“Why’s that?” He asked, lifting his hat some to scratch his head. To him that sounded awfully suspicious. Dipper was all for a good secret, especially when he was the detective on the case, but by Stan’s tone he could tell the guy was serious which probably meant it would be more trouble than it was worth.

“People ‘round here, yanno you can’t always trust them,” he shrugged. “Also no wild parties when I’m out-” he added, pointing a finger at Mabel with a look of mock strictness.

“Aww, Grunkle,” she huffed. “I can still have Grenda and Candy thouhg, riiiight?” Stan faltered a moment in his grin.

“Uh, have they been sick lately? There’s a summer cold going around and… germs,” he shrugged.

“Since when have you cared about germs?!” Mabel laughed, taking a bite out of her pizza and nomming quite loudly.

“Since, uh- Since I was sick myself not too long ago and I don’t wanna be again!” Stan had fumbled briefly but recovered himself just as fast. Then he coughed for the emphasis. “I think that’s enough questions! Eat your pizza,” he ordered quickly, handing a second piece to each of them.

 

★_---_--

 

“Soos!”

“Waddles!!”

It was the following morning when Soos got back from his casual Sunday break, toting with him a pig of much larger size than when Mabel had last seen him.

“Hey, dudes! It’s great to see ya!” He said excitedly, offering a high five to Dipper who obliged with a grin. Mabel had cupped Waddle’s face in her hands and proceeded to give him the biggest eskimo kiss.

“Ahahahaaa, I have so many sweater ideas for him!”

“So, dudes, what do ya think? I’ve been growing out my facial hair,” Soos commented, lifting his chin to show the twins his progress with the stubble.

“Nice,” Dipper replied.

"It looks so neat! If it gets long enough I can braid beads into it!" Mabel chimed. There was a moment of laughter between the two as Soos also nodded in agreement.

“So what kinda things have been up here since we left?” Dipper asked casually. “Anything cool?” Dipper began walking, leaving his sister to coddle Waddles. Soos followed closely, brushing off his hands and hanging up the leash he’d brought the pig on.

“Well, lemme think. A lot’s happened like you could fill a book,” he started. “But nothing as exciting has happened since that summer, oh I mean other than my beard.”

“Really? There’s nothing creepy or paranormal? This place used to be filled with it!” Dipper gestured around to the wooded area surrounding the Shack.

“I guess there coulda been, but I don’t notice. I’m too busy around the Shack. Plus, once the books were "destroyed" things got more under the radar, yanno.” he shrugged. Dipper pondered for a moment.

“The Shack? Isn’t it like crazy popular now?”

“Ha! … Ha! The Shack? Popular? Hah, we wish, dude, but we’ve hardly seen a customer every other week! Especially since everyone’s getting sick and what not.”

“Sick?” Dipper inquired. “It’s like summer, though? Shouldn’t there be more sickness in the winter, when it’s cold?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Soos shrugged. “Some people blamed the heat but it’s gotten more serious than that. Like symptoms and crazy stuff like that. People have even...” Soos trailed off. He looked around and gestured for Dipper to draw closer. The twin leaned his ear closer. “... Died.” Dipper swallowed and then glanced back up at his older friend.

“Really? I mean I guess people could die from heatstroke but,” he paused and shook his head.

“How many people? Don’t you think that’s weird? What symptoms?”

“Oh, I dunno how many people or what the symptom thingies were. I just heard around town about it.” Soos scratched his slightly bearded chin.

“Grunkle Stan is worried he’s going to get sick again,” Dipper shrugged. “But heatstroke isn’t contagious, it’s something that just happens.”

“Sick again? Stan was sick?”

“Wouldn’t you know?” Dipper slowed to a stop. Soos kept on walking and then bent down on the side of the road to scoop trash from the ditch.  "He was like coughing or something."

“As far as I do know, he’s been fine. I haven't heard any coughing really,” Soos said, examining the wad of newspaper. Dipper nodded. They had been there a single night and Stan already was keeping secrets from them. There was no other explanation for why he’d lie about being sick. There was something suspicious. Something just couldn't add up. Not many visitors to the shack... That was understandable but the stuff about being sick. There was something going around. It could have taken lives. Soos said Stan was never sick though. And if this sick stuff going around was serious then Stan maybe wouldn't even be here. Or they would have heard earlier. 

"Hey, can I see that?" Dipper asked after a moment, seeing the paper. 

"What? This?" Soos held up the crumpled mess. "It's just an old article- that cute lil' mean kid's obituary I think," he told Dipper as he handed it over.

"Gideon? Gideon Gleeful? Obituary?" Dipper quickly un-crumpled the paper. 

"Yeah, he was one of the ones that got sick. The youngest one though, everyone else is older I think I remember hearing," Soos muttered, scratching at his temple. "Wait, didn't you know?" He asked.

"Know... Know what? That Gideon was dead?" Dipper gulped. Ok, so Gideon was an old enemy of his. They hated each other. Gideon had probably made more nearly successful attempts on his own life than he knew. That didn't make it any less disturbing that he'd died from some weird sickness thing. Dipper straightened out the worn paper more.  "He died in April?" He asked upon seeing the date.

"Yup," Soos replied simply.

That was it. Dipper decided he'd need to go to town and hear some of these rumors himself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried to jump quickly into the plot here by kicking up some dirt. ;3


	3. Second Rule

Dipper flipped through the dated pages of a magazine Wendy had once kept under her mug of coffee she sat on the counter daily. Dipper flipped through the stained pages of faded pictures. The stars will all irrelevant now. Well most of them anyway. They could be considered fallen stars. The male twin wasn’t particularly interested while he sat at the practically inactive store’s counter. His mind was preoccupied with many thought trains. They were practically colliding in his brain, making his head hurt.

What did Dipper know? Something was amiss. There was either widespread heatstroke (which seemed unlikely), or a sickness of which he knew nothing but that it was mysterious and had already killed people. People including his ex-arch nemesis, Gideon. Stan was weary about something and had lied about being sick. He’d lied before Dipper had even been made aware there was a fatal illness going around. Mabel was oblivious and Soos was just as lost it seemed. Er well, less lost, more just on terms with a need-to-know basis.

The twin scratched his head under his worn cap and sighed, glancing over the counter area. His eyes grazed over a couple of cracked bobbleheads, more coffee cup stains, chips in the old wood, a clipboard, some tape remaining stuck to the wood where papers had once been stuck. He picked up the clipboard and examined the data table presenting him with a list of inventory and sales. It was old fashioned to keep such records on a hard copy, but with the amount of purchases actually occurring it probably wasn’t worth it to transfer it all online.

He narrowed his eyes. The last purchase was by… Bud Gleeful. Dipper traced his finger over the row. Novelty bolts and locks. An odd enough purchase. He wasn’t sure why Stan would even be selling them. Dipper turned and opened an album detailing all of the junk in the shop. Sure enough he found no sorts of locks or bolts. It could’ve been off record, but it appeared in the purchases. Dipper was startled when a man cleared his throat. He turned with a start.

“You don’t need to be messing around here, yanno, kid,” Stan said. “Just focus on your work.”

Dipper frowned. “What work? No one’s in here?”

Stan looked around. “Uh, well sweep up the dust or something. There’s always plenty of dust.”

“Isn’t it Soos’ day to do this?” He asked.

“It would be but he didn’t show. Get to work, I’m not paying you to snoop around.”

“Oh, I was just checking inventor- Hey, you’re not paying me at all,” Dipper said pointedly.

Stan shrugged and put a hand to his ear. “Oh-” He paused. “What’s that?” He asked.

Dipper looked confused. Who was he talking to?

“A riot, you say?”

“Riot?”

“Yeah, the dust is rioting because of the overpopulation, clean it up,” Stan said finally, dropping his hands by his sides and marching back out of the room.

★_---_--

Mabel gave a happy squeal and kicked her feet even more quickly in the air. She laid on her stomach, gnawing on the necklace in her mouth. This gained Dipper’s attention from the other side of their shared room.

“Are you ok?” He asked. “Cause that necklace sure won’t be if you don’t drop it.” Mabel did so promptly.

“I’m ok. Just excited!” She laughed.

“Why’s that?” He inquired, shutting the young adult novel he was reading. It was pretty boring and built around the terribly cliche plot device known as the love triangle.

“I’m gonna have a sleepover~!!” Mabel chimed, sitting up atop her legs now.

“It’ll be great.”

“Stan’s letting you do that?” He asked, furrowing his brow and propping himself up by his elbows.

“He doesn’t have to know if you won’t tell him~!” She giggled.

“Mabel, there’s no way he won’t know. I haven’t seen him leave the shack since he brought us in and you guys are way too loud. He’ll know before they reach the doormat.”

“Oh please, Dipper. Those rules were made to be broken!” She said in dismissal, waving her hand in his direction.

“You should check with him first, though. He probably had a reason for setting those rules up. I mean besides breaking them. But if you had to break them it’s better than you breaking the one about leaving. That one seems more serious-” Dipper stopped talking when he realized Mabel looked extremely guilty. “You aren’t going out are you?” He questioned.

“NO! Uh, no, I mean nah not really.”

“Not really? Are you or aren’t you, Mabel?” Dipper sounded annoyed.

“We aren’t. Not tonight.”

“Mabel,” Dipper whined.

“Well I can’t just bring a party here. Grunkle might let me keep Grenda and Candy but he’d never agree to a party, I know that much,” She grumbled, chewing on her sleeve. “One of us has gotta play the role of the outgoing standard teenager. It’s a stereotype.”

“Yeah, you know what’s also a stereotype- Reckless teenagers going to parties and breaking the rules and something bad happening.” Mabel rolled her eyes and dropped her crumpled sleeve.

“It’d be a lot safer if you came with me,” she suggested. Maybe Dipper was just looking for some fun too.

“Nope. Not. Going. To. Happen.”

“What- Ah, you didn’t even think ab-”

“No.” Dipper paused for a second, “Ok, I’m not even considering it but where is this party exactly?” Mabel broke eye contact and pretended she didn’t quite catch it. “Mabel.” Dipper tried getting her attention, but soon he gave up. With her looks there was no way she’d be getting into a club. She still looked twelve. Well, maybe not that young but she still wouldn’t make it in without a crazy fake ID.

The two sat in silence for a moment when Mabel’s phone lit up and played a jingle Dipper knew all too well by now. This was followed by a loud excited announcement from his sister. “Candy’s here!” She wailed before quickly slapping a hand over her mouth. She looked at Dipper with a Giddy expression, to which he responded with a roll onto his stomach and a solid faceplant in his pillow.

 

★_---_--

It wasn’t until Grenda arrived with her especially loud voice, that Stan’s attention was brought to the girls. His face was red and steam was shooting out his ears. Mabel had already broken a rule!! He didn’t seem to stay mad long and he let out a frustrated huff. He admonished Mabel in the other room briefly before letting her return to her friends. He’d warned her about letting anyone else in and let her be.

The girls didn’t retire until late in the night. They’d spent the evening catching up. Candy had had two boyfriend’s since Mabel left and while Grenda had no notable relationships, she’d acquired multiple suitors to her somewhat abrasive personality who she let yearn after her. Mabel was sorry to say she’d only been moderately successful with one boy despite all her attempts at dating back at home. There was an unusual lack of paranormal boyfriends in her recent repertoire, so they were less interesting.

The trio exchanged juicy gossip about their friends outside their clique, people in the town, their nemeses. They didn’t even bother to watch the sappy romance films and chick flicks they played in the background. Popcorn kernels littered the shaggy carpet under the coffee table as well as candy wrappers, make-up containers, nail polish bottles, various tubes of glitter and beads. There was a discarded pizza box on which they’d taken turns painting each other’s nails to avoid getting paint everywhere.

When the girls tired themselves out, only Candy and Mabel were able to keep their eyes open. In a sleepy stupor they made an attempt to move Grenda from the couch, but it was a lost cause. The two remaining girls made their way to the twins’ room and slipped in quietly.

“Dipper’s sleeping so sh!” Mabel said in a shrill whisper. “We can still talk but quietly. He’s gotten to be a heavier sleeper I think because he snores now. He squeaks too when he snores and- anyway, I get the left side of the bed,” she said. “It has my stuffed animals.”

Candy replied so softly, Dipper, who was lying awake, couldn’t make it out.

“Oh. I dunno. Do you think Pacifica has changed? She wasn’t as bad last I saw her-” There was some more quiet mumbling. “Well I guess we’ll find out at her party tomorrow. Grenda said she still had an invite.” Candy replied in such a way Dipper still couldn’t make out her words. “No, apparently it’s the first open invite party she’s thrown in a while.” … “I’m not gonna say anything I’m just gonna sneak out when Stan’s dozing off with the TV.” … More ambiguous whispers. “Ok, ok. Yeah we should sleep if we’re gonna stay up all night tomorrow.” Mabel and Candy whispered their goodnights and proceeded to fall noiselessly asleep.

Pacifica was having the party. It was the first open invite party she… or her family, had apparently offered to host in a long time. Dipper went to bed with even more thoughts swarming his head before. It didn’t help that something felt so wrong- He felt very strongly about Stan’s rules this time around. He thought Mabel should have listened but there didn’t seem to be any underlying issues of having Grenda and Candy over- only that now they were all going to sneak to a party.


End file.
